Monday, June 8, 2009

Matthew Update for June 8, 2009

I hope all of you are on the way to a wonderful summer! Enjoy each day because it passes all too quickly!

Matthew has been continuing the same chemo treatments and schedule that he has been on since last July. In the last 2 months he has incorporated a special diet of juicing veggies and fruits, no sugar, more fish and little meat, low on the dairy and processed products plus doing organic as much as possible.

There was a lot of cancer reduction in 2008 but as 2009 arrived, the reduction stopped and stability took its place.

Matthew just had a scan on June 1 with the results being: "no better, no worse, everything stable". Even though we'd love to be seeing reduction, this is still very good news.

Matthew started up another round of chemo today. His usual Temodar, Avastin, and CPT-11 (if that actually means anything to anyone! Ha!) This is the same "recipe" devised by Dr. Wexler at Sloan-Kettering in New York a year ago. He had a great day today with no problems at all. (We are ALWAYS thankful for that.) He will return each day this week for treatments and receive a Neulasta shot on Saturday (to help keep his white blood count up).

Prior to the scan on the 1st, Matthew was able to go to the beach for a week and had a SUPER time! Woo hoo! (All SUPER times are cherished!)

Thank you for continuing the journey with us. We SO appreciate your love and prayers. We couldn't make it without those 2 important components. We would appreciate your specific prayers for moderate side effects of the chemo, continued energy for Matthew and new treatments on the horizon that would specifically treat DSRCT (the rare cancer that Matthew has.)

As you can see God continues to bless us in many ways, big and small. What a great God we serve!

Matt is always on my heart. I love to hear good news about him. :) I know what it is like to suffer physically, although I have never endured cancer. My heart goes out to Matthew for his pain and suffering. The apostle Paul tells us to rejoice in our sufferings for we are sharing in the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ!Love, Sara